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| Employees of SK oceanplant pose for a photo in front of an offshore wind turbine jacket to be exported. Courtesy of SK oceanplant |
By Lee Kyung-min
SK oceanplant, an offshore wind power affiliate of SK Group, plans to become the first mover in the global top-tier offshore wind power generator industry.
The subsidiary of SK ecoplant said Wednesday that it has been rebranded as SK oceanplant from Samkang M&T and adopted a new corporate identity.
At offshore wind farms, there are no obstacles that can interrupt wind flow. Unlike onshore wind farms that can create noise or damage the landscape, offshore wind farms have better public acceptance, which is one of its advantages.
This is why the global offshore wind power market is expected to grow fast.
Offshore wind power generation is forecast to increase significantly, by 113.4 percent between 2021 and 2025, while onshore wind power is expected to grow only 15.7 percent, according to the Global Wind Energy Council's (GWEC) Global Offshore Wind Report. It also forecast offshore wind installations will be increased from 35 gigawatts (GW) in 2020 to 270 GW and 2,000 GW by 2030 and 2050 respectively.
SK oceanplant has been performing strongly since signing a purchase and sale agreement with SK ecoplant in 2021. It won 600 billion won ($487 million) worth of offshore wind power orders from Taiwan.
Since 2020 when SK oceanplant became Korea's first exporter of substructures for offshore wind power, its financial performance has improved. It was in the red in 2019, but registered an operating profit of 29 billion won in 2020.
As of September 2022, its revenue reached 525.3 billion won, exceeding revenue for the whole of 2021.
During the same period, its operating profit was 59.4 billion won, more than doubling year-on-year.
As of 2021, exports account for 91 percent of its revenue. This is attributable to SK oceanplant's excellence in manufacturing substructures for offshore wind power combined with an increase in public trust for subsidiaries of SK Group, lifted further by the creation of SK ecoplant's offshore wind power-based green hydrogen value chain.
